Press Releases
Lynch Foundation to Endow Nursing PhD Scholarships at UMass Boston
By Ed Hayward of The University Reporter (April 2007)
The College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston has received a $500,000 grant from The Lynch Foundation to fund fellowships for students in the university’s fast-track nursing PhD program, which is designed to build a diverse pool of Ph.D.-prepared nurses focused on cancer nursing care, health disparities and health policy research, the university has announced. The grant is one of the largest awarded by the 19-year-old charitable foundation started by vice chairman of Fidelity Management & Research Co. Peter Lynch and his wife, Carolyn.
By establishing The Lynch Foundation Fund for Nursing Fellowships, the grant will fund merit-based scholarships for students in an innovative program designed to change the way nurses earn doctoral degrees.
“Peter and Carolyn Lynch set an example for philanthropy in Massachusetts by making investments in projects and programs where the results are expansive and sustainable,” said UMass Boston Chancellor Michael F. Collins, MD. “UMass Boston’s fast-track PhD in Nursing addresses the critical shortage of nursing PhDs, trains the next generation of nursing faculty, and creates opportunities for a diverse group of nursing practitioners to transform experience into scholarship and research.”
The fast-track program was developed in collaboration with Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center through a $4.3 million National Institutes of Health grant awarded to the two institutions in 2005.
“The Lynch Foundation award will improve the capacity of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences to address the national shortage of PhD-prepared nursing faculty and researchers,” said Dean Greer Glazer. “The scholarship endowment bolsters the college’s work to attract and retain first-generation and racially and ethnically diverse graduate students to our program.”
The goal of the fast-track program is to resolve issues confronting nurses who want to pursue doctoral studies. Currently, the average number of years students are enrolled in a doctoral program is 8.3 years in nursing, compared to 6.8 years for all research PhD programs. The average time between entry into graduate study and earning a PhD is 15.9 years in nursing, compared to 8.5 years in other disciplines.
By removing financial obstacles and establishing the fast-track structure, the program plans to reduce barriers nurses have faced in pursuing doctoral studies.
The Lynch Foundation funding will help provide the proper financial support for students who must give up fill-time work to enroll in the doctoral program.
The college enrolls more than 960 students in baccalaureate, master's and PhD programs. Currently, students of color comprise nearly 38 percent of the college's undergraduate nursing students and more than 40 percent of UMass Boston's total student body.
The grant to UMass Boston is one of the 12 largest awards made by the Lynch Foundation, which was started in 1988. The foundation supports education, religious organizations, cultural and historic organizations, and hospitals and medical research.
Original article
http://www.umb.edu/research/news/lynchfoundation.html
